Skate 3

My mother doesn’t play video games. Even though Nintendo’s broken through to the motherly set with the Nintendo DSi and the Wii. The woman who raised me still refuses to play anything. It’s just the way she is. She doesn’t think it’s a waste of time per se. She has a nondescript “meh” attitude about it like all my other hobbies — reading, food and wine drinking. If I loved, say slot machines, we would have something to talk about. But for the most part, we have few things in common. That’s why on this Mother’s Day I played it safe and sent her flowers. But I imagine if my mom did play games, she’d adore Picross 3D. Well, at least I do. Here’s some quick thoughts on what I played this week.

Picross 3D: I’ve always seen my girlfriend playing this title, and it always reminded me of Sudoku except with shapes. The game works like this: There’s an image hidden underneath a grid, and to see that picture, players will have to figure out which blocks are supposed to be there and what aren’t using numbers that give clues to the rows and columns around it. The sequel brings the logic-based puzzling-solving into a new dimension. Instead of figuring out the shapes of 2D objects, Picross 3D makes players guess the shapes in three-dimensional polygons.

Some of the objects are easy to guess. I quickly deduced the letters L and the N , but some items are impossible guess. Part of this is because it’s a Japanese game and the other part is the object itself. I have no idea what a melodica is or what it’d look like, and sometimes that TV looks more like hot tub than anything else. Trying to figure out what the 3D Dot Game Heroes version of a dog is nothing short of difficult. But strangely, Picross 3D was entertaining, keeping me playing until my Nintendo DSi batteries ran out.

Skate 3: I can’t say much about this game because A) It’s under embargo and B) I’m reviewing it for this week. Suffice to say, I’m playing it and you can read my previews here and here.

I did a double take while I milling about the Clock Tower area of Port Carverton. The place where players dawdle while they awaiting an online match looked strangely familiar. It was like staring into a mirror world of EA Black Box’s design. I turned to ask producer Brian Lindeley, “Is this based on Standford?”

“Yes” he said. In the latest sequel, teamplay takes center stage, but that shouldn’t overshadow Skate 3’s new digs. The franchise moves away from San Vanelona, a fictional city that’s a mashup of San Francisco, Vancouver and Barcelona, and shifts to a more skate-friendly municipality.

“We’re in a new city this year. It’s made to be this skateboarding Mecca, a skateboarding paradise,” senior producer Jason DeLong said. “It translates to the way the city’s been built, but it also affects the way people behave around you as you’re skating. It’s a bright sunny day. It runs at 60 frames per second. It’s made to feel like a welcoming place to skate.”

As I mentioned in a previous post, the city has a college, plenty of places to grind and amazing spots with natural ramps built into the archeticture. All you have to do is find them.

I know it sounds a little early to be saying this, but Skate 3 has jumped the shark. I’ve seen it. I’ve done it. I’ve swooped down a sculpture and ollied over a gianormous shark monument on the campus of Port Carverton’s sole college.

It was one of the memorable moments I had playing the game at EA’s Redwood City headquarters last month. EA Black Box dropped by to show off the project’s latest features with an emphasis on online team play. That’s going to be the driving force behind this sequel.

Along with a brand new city to explore, players have to build a skate team and lead it in competition. It’s a very different start from the past two games, where players came up as anonymous or forgotten skaters who had to make a name for themselves. In Skate 3, a player’s character is already established as a hot shot in the sport, and they’ll have to take their fame to the next level by building their own crew, creating their own gear and plastering their custom logo all over the city.